When Dharmendra passed away in November 2025 at age 89, millions of fans mourned the end of a cinematic era and a life lived large on screen. But inside the family, what followed sparked a different kind
of conversation — one about the dynamics between his two families.
After Dharmendra’s death on 24 November 2025, his first wife Prakash Kaur organised a prayer meet in Mumbai with sons Sunny and Bobby Deol and daughters Vijeta and Ajieta. Hema Malini and her daughters Esha and Ahana Deol were not at that event, which immediately sparked speculation.
Instead, Hema held her own private rituals – a puja at home and another ceremony in New Delhi – a choice she later said was personal and respectful. Some even claimed Hema was left out by Dharmendra’s first family during these emotional moments, something that “must have hurt terribly”.
Long before the debates over prayer meetings, their marriage itself was famously unconventional. Hema and Dharmendra fell in love on the set of Tum Haseen Main Jawan, but Dharmendra was already married to Prakash Kaur. Legal divorce wasn’t an option, so they chose a private path — converting to Islam and marrying via Nikah in 1980, then holding a traditional Iyengar wedding later to honour Hema’s Tamil roots. Their wedding took place quietly at Hema’s brother’s home.
Hema often spoke fondly of Dharmendra’s parents. In Hema Malini: Beyond The Dream Girl, she recalled his father visiting for chai and joking about ghee and lassi, and his mother offering a heartfelt hug when Hema was expecting their daughter Esha. She wrote, “Dharamji’s mother Satwant Kaur was equally warm and kind-hearted. I remember how she came to meet me once at a dubbing studio in Juhu, after I had conceived Esha. She hadn’t informed anyone in the house. I touched her feet, she hugged me and said, ‘Beta, khush raho humesha (Be happy always).’ I was happy that they were happy with me.”
Dharmendra married his first wife, Prakash Kaur, in 1954, when he was just 19. They have four children together: sons Sunny and Bobby Deol, both actors, and daughters Vijeta and Ajieta. With Hema Malini, he has two daughters – Esha and Ahana Deol.
